Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 289 



Sirs, — Readers oL' 'The Ibis ' will, I think, be interested 

 in the following description of a " Sabine's Snipe," it' not in 

 the comments thereon which I have to offer : — 



Killed in November last at Fnlbourn, Cambridgeshire, 

 this bird was brought to me by Capt. Tryon, the lessee of 

 the estate, and kindly left in my hands for description — 

 a privilege which I much appreciate and herewith acknowledge 

 w itb thanks. 



It proved on dissection to be a female, and was a remark- 

 ably fine example of its kind — finer, in fact, than any 

 specimen in tin' British Museum. 



The general appearance of this bird above was of a 

 velvety black mottled with brown. The under surface had 

 the neck and breast of a tawny colour, the abdomen smoke- 

 coloured. The crown of the head and sides of the face were 

 black, the crown and occiput intensely so. This dark- 

 coloured area gave the appearance of a mask, recalling that 

 of the Black-headed Gull. The feathers on the neck were 

 black, with tawny-brown tips and a subterminal bar of 

 brown — a combination giving a mottled appearance. As the 

 mantle was approached the black extended forwards along 

 the shaft, so as to break up the brown tip into two spots. 

 The feathers on the mantle — which were peculiarly elon- 

 gated — bore a horseshoe-shaped bar of brown at the tip and 

 three or four somewhat wavy bars of the same colour at short 

 distances down the vane. As the base of the feather was 

 approached these bars grew shorter, and terminated in the 

 form of spots on the free edges of the vane. The rump- 

 feathers were tipped with tawny brown, marked with three 

 or four bars of the same colour at equal distances along the 

 vane. The scapulars resembled the mantle-feathers. The 

 wings on the upper surface had the major coverts and 

 secondaries tipped with tawny brown. The median coverts 

 were tipped with brown, and had a subterminal bar of the 

 same colour. Most of the minor coverts were tipped with 

 tawny brown ; median and marginal coverts dull black. The 

 inner primaries and outer secondaries shewed a tendency to 

 develop brown bars at the tips. The long inner secondaries 



